Gary Neville was left shaking his head at "cheeky" Laura Woods after she poked fun at him being publicly called out by Cristiano Ronaldo.
Neville found himself caught in the crossfire as Ronaldo gave an explosive interview to Piers Morgan which ended with his contract with Manchester United being terminated by mutual consent. Ronaldo accused Neville of using him for fame and claimed the pair are not friends.
Joined by Neville for the first time whilst presenting ITV's World Cup coverage, Woods couldn't help but bring up the public spat between the former Manchester United teammates.
"It’s the first time I’ve spoken to you since Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United, has he answered your phone calls?" Woods asked.
Neville immediately displayed a broad smile and shook his head as he responded: "You’re cheeky you, aren’t you? My phone’s not rung, let alone from Cristiano!".
Despite being criticised by Ronaldo, Neville continued by praising the "unbelievable" forward ahead of Portugal facing Uruguay in their next World Cup game.
Neville said: "He’s unbelievable. He’s responded to criticism, he doesn’t like what’s happened in Manchester. He’s in his homeland, Portugal adore him, the relationship with his manager is strong.
"I think we need Ronaldo, Messi, Mbappe all coming to head in this tournament because something’s going to have to give at some point. I watched the Portugal game the other day and I thought the balance was awful.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Were Man Utd right to terminate Cristiano Ronaldo's contract? Join the discussion in the comments section.
"He had Bruno Fernandes on the right with Cristiano up front. That doesn’t work, we’ve seen that at Manchester United. When Leao came on and Joao Felix played with Carvalho and Bruno moved inside with Silva they looked pretty good and that’s the way forward for Portugal.
"They’re a good team with a man up front with a monster mentality, he’ll think he’s lifting that World Cup and he’ll believe that and that will transmit to the rest of the team. He’s done that in the Champions League with Real Madrid, with Barcelona dominating, he won five Champions League’s there.
"He delivers in the big moment. Nothing will surprise me but I think it’s right he left United and right United let him go."
Ronaldo enjoyed a record-breaking start to the tournament in Qatar, scoring a penalty against Ghana to become the first men's player to score in five consecutive World Cup competitions. He is playing the tournament as a free agent after his United exit was finalised last week.
